The 2026 Budget will be tabled this Friday. Anticipation runs high across Malaysia’s sporting fraternity – from elite athletes and grassroots coaches to administrators, parents, and fans.
Yet beyond the annual cycle of allocations and applause, this year’s budget carries greater symbolic weight. It comes at a crossroads moment – when sport in Malaysia must decide whether it remains a cost centre or evolves into a generator of national pride, economic opportunity, and youth empowerment.
With the tremors shaking Malaysian sport in recent weeks, we must move decisively from an amateur to a professionally managed system.
The question is not whether sport deserves attention, but whether the government – led by the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) – can finally position itself as the national facilitator of an entire sporting ecosystem, rather than merely a distributor of grants and subsidies.
It is not the fault of any individual, but we are now burdened by a government process that both helps and hinders the growth of sport.
KBS can choose to remain a bureaucratic treasurer or become a national facilitator – the conductor of an orchestra uniting schools, clubs, states, private sponsors, and global partners in one coherent tune.
Funding must be predictable, strategic, and multi-year
In Budget 2025, Malaysian sport received approximately RM230 million through the Podium Programme, the Road to Gold initiative, and para-athlete preparation. It was a positive gesture, but the structure remains reactive – with top-ups in Olympic years and austerity in others.
Budget 2026 must instead mark the shift to multi-year budgeting. Just as infrastructure and defence projects are planned across fiscal cycles, athlete pathways, coaching programmes, and science-based training must also enjoy continuity.
Athletes cannot train amid annual uncertainty; world-class performance demands sustained planning. A practical reform would see KBS and the Finance Ministry co-create a three-year rolling sport development framework, reviewed annually but funded predictably.
This would give associations and the National Sports Council room to plan talent progression, competition calendars, and equipment procurement without bureaucratic whiplash.
Building infrastructure that lasts – by turning facilities into community hubs
Malaysia’s sporting infrastructure mirrors its event history: Each new Games or tournament triggers a burst of construction, followed by years of underuse.
Every state deserves a multi-sport community hub – scalable, modular, and shared between schools, clubs, and public users. Federal matching grants could incentivise state governments and the private sector to co-invest in these ‘Sport for All’ centres, integrating gymnasiums, futsal courts, swimming pools, and multipurpose halls within a sustainable footprint.
In line with the minister’s vision to democratise sport, this would transform major sporting facilities across the country into true community centres.
Grassroots, clubs, and talent pathways
Our athletes’ stories are often of resilience – achieved despite the system, not because of it. Too many potential stars disappear after school, victims of inadequate coaching, lack of equipment, or prohibitive travel costs.
Budget 2026 should establish a ‘Grassroots-to-Gold Fund’, pooling federal and state resources for club development, district-level tournaments, and coach education.
The fund could be overseen jointly by KBS, the National Sports Council, the Housing and Local Government Ministry, and the Education Ministry to close the gap between school and competitive sport.
Non-mainstream sports such as climbing, futsal, table tennis, rugby, and e-sports should also receive defined support. In Budget 2025, the government allocated RM20 million to e-sports – a recognition of youth interest. This can now extend to regional e-sports labs, youth circuits, and scholarships for digital athletes, linking sport to the creative economy.
Tax incentives, sponsorship, and athlete welfare
KBS has made progress in this area through tax reliefs, incentives, matching grants, and enabling Employees Provident Fund contributions for Podium athletes.
This can be expanded to grow Malaysia’s sporting economy further. The 2026 Budget should encourage private-sector participation through tax incentives and matching grants such as:
• Double tax deductions for verified sponsorships to national and state sports programmes.
• Corporate sport grants allowing companies to adopt athletes, clubs, or schools through CSR.
• Tax-exempt athlete trust funds to help athletes save prize money for retirement or education.
Prudent ambition in hosting major Games
With Malaysia set to host the 2027 Southeast Asian Games, the country should seize the opportunity to craft a Nation Branding strategy – one that extends beyond sport to encompass broader national objectives.
A dedicated Nation Branding budget should accompany this, with the Prime Minister’s Department leading a cross-ministerial effort involving KBS, the International Trade and Investment Ministry, the Tourism Ministry, and the Economic Affairs Ministry.
Additionally, a national ‘Sustainable Events Framework’ led by KBS can align future bids with fiscal prudence, green principles, and digital innovation – setting a benchmark for the sports industry to strengthen Malaysia’s sporting future.
Transparency and accountability
The Achilles’ heel of Malaysian sport remains poor governance – opaque grants, overlapping jurisdictions, and politically influenced appointments.
A serious sport economy requires serious governance.
Budget 2026 should allocate resources to a new Sports Governance and Performance Unit within KBS, tasked with:
• Auditing funding outcomes.
• Enforcing governance codes for associations.
• Publishing annual scorecards tracking medals, participation, gender balance, and youth involvement.
Performance-based funding, tied to measurable indicators, would reward associations that deliver, and penalise complacency. Transparency builds confidence among athletes, taxpayers, and sponsors alike. The trust deficit in sport must be repaired.
Integrating sport with health, youth, education, and the economy
The United Nations recognises sport as a platform that can help achieve many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The most transformative vision would be to treat sport not as a standalone policy, but as a cross-ministerial engine driving national wellbeing.
KBS can facilitate partnerships where:
• The Health Ministry uses community sport to combat obesity and non-communicable diseases.
• The Education Ministry embeds physical literacy and co-curricular sports in schools.
• The Tourism Ministry promotes Malaysia as a regional sport-tourism hub.
• The Higher Education Ministry develops university leagues as professional pipelines.
• The Economic Ministry recognises sport as a tool for economic mobility.
The 2026 Budget could introduce a pilot Whole-of-Government Sports Integration Fund to pool these initiatives under one coordinated umbrella – with KBS as facilitator and convener.
KBS as chief facilitator, not allocator
For Malaysia to progress, KBS must evolve from administrator to architect – from managing budgets to orchestrating partnerships.
Its true role is to act as a national convener, connecting government agencies, the private sector, academia, and civil society.
KBS must:
• Champion policy integration to align sport with education, youth, tourism, and digital economy goals.
• Drive data-driven decision-making through a national sport database tracking participation, facilities, and athlete progress.
• Enable private-sector involvement by simplifying sponsorship procedures, IP protection, and brand licensing frameworks.
• Build the capacity of National Sports Associations through transparent grants, governance training, and leadership mentoring – emulating the UK Sport Code of Conduct.
• Mobilise youth through volunteerism, officiating, and entrepreneurship programmes in sport.
• Expand sport-related Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as recently announced by the minister. Athlete training could also be included, similar to the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s.
With a proactive KBS at the helm, sport can become a platform economy where events, content, health, education, and tourism interconnect under one national mission.
The broader dividend – sport as national capital
Sport’s value cannot be confined to medals. Its dividends include healthier citizens, cohesive communities, international recognition, and economic opportunities through media, events, and manufacturing.
The 2026 Budget should make it clear that sport is not a luxury or a feel-good tool, but a generator of social, economic, and cultural capital.
From episodic funding to ecosystem thinking
The world is entering an era where sport is not only entertainment but strategy – a means to project identity, foster innovation, and inspire unity.
For Malaysia, this Friday’s budget speech can either reaffirm old habits or chart a new course.
If it commits to predictable funding, equitable infrastructure, youth empowerment, accountability, and a facilitative KBS, it would mark a historic turning point – from sport as expenditure to sport as investment; from government patronage to ecosystem partnership.
Malaysia needs more than athletes who can inspire the world. It needs a government and a ministry bold enough to give them a system worthy of their dreams.
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
